Page:Vedic Grammar.djvu/289

 1 VI. DECLENSION. NOUNS. VOWEL STEMS. 279 b. I. The stem páti-, when it means 'husband' and is uncompounded, shows irregular inflexion in the Sing. D. and G. (like såkhi-) and the L.: D. pátye, G. patyur ¹, L. pátyau. When it means 'lord' 2 or is compounded, it is regular: D. pataye, bŕhaspátaye, G. pátes, praja-pates (TS.), L. gó-patau. 2. The stem jáni- 'wife' also takes the abnormal endingur in the G. sing.: jányur. This stem has the further irregularity of forming its N. sing. jáni according to the derivative - declension. 3. The stem arí- 'devout' is irregular in forming several cases like the radical - stems (except in accentuation): Sing. A. aryám (beside arim), G. aryás 3. PI. N. A. m. f. aryás. The VS. has also the N. sing. aris beside the aris of the RV. c. Twenty-seven stems in the RV. show forms according to the derivative i- declen- sion in the D. Ab. G. L. sing. f.4, perhaps from a desire to add a distinctively f. ending in a declension which does not distinguish genders in these cases. There is a steady increase of such forms in the later Samhitās; thus while the RV. has only 7 datives in -ai from stems, the VS. has about 40. d. In the RV. 4 or 5 stems show the influence of the n- declension in the incipient use of the ending nī in the N. A. n. du., and (ī)-ni in N. A. n. pl.; and in the I. sing., stems taking the ending -nã are already 5 times as numerous as those adding the normal -ā. Inflexion. 381. The N. sing. m. f. always takes -s5, the A. simply -m. The D. Ab. G. V. gunate the suffix, to which the Ab. G. add only -s instead of -as. The L. sing. has an altogether abnormal form ending in -ā or -au. The N. pl. m. f. gunates the -i, to which the normal ending -as is added. The A. pl. in the m. adds -n, in the f. -s, before which the vowel is lengthened. The G. pl. always takes -nām, lengthening the preceding vowel. The frequent adjective súci-'bright' may be used to illustrate the forms actually occurring in the three genders: Sing. N. m. f. śúcis, n. súci. A. m. f. śúcim, n. śúci. I. m. śúcyā, śúcinā, f. súcya, súcī, śúci. D. m. f. n. sucaye. Ab. m. f. śúces. G. m. f. n. šúces, L. m. f. n. šúcā, śúcau. V. m. f. śúce. D. m. súcibhyām. Du. N. A. V. m. f. n. šúcī. I. m. f. n. šúcibhyām. Ab. m. f. śúcibhyam. G. m. f. śúcyos. L. m. f. n. śúcyos. Pl. N. m. f. śúcayas. N. A. n. śúci, śúci, súcīni. A. m. súcīn, f. súcis. I. m. f. súcibhis. D. m. f. súcibhyas. Ab. m. f. n. śúcibhyas. G. m. f. súcīnām. L. m. f. n. šúcișu. Forms actually occurring are the following: Sing. N. m. This form is very frequent, being made from nearly 250 stems in the RV. The commonest examples are: agnís (389) 'fire', kavis (90) 'sage', háris (58) 'tawny', byhas-pátis (52) 'Lord of Prayer', súcis (38) 'bright', şis (32) 'seer', bráhmaṇas-pátis (23) 'Lord of Prayer', átithis (20) 'guest". a. The stem ví- 'bird', besides the regular N. which occurs 6 times, has the anomalously gunated form vé-s', which occurs 5 times in the RV. b. The pronominal forms ná-ki-s (50) and má-ki-s (13) 'no one' are old nomiuatives which have become indeclinable. N. f. This form is frequent, being made from 136 stems in the RV. The commonest examples are: áditis (78) 'freedom', su-matís (22) 'bene- volence', rātis (22) 'gifť, nábhis (19) 'navel, matis (18) 'thought', yuvatis (18) 'maiden', bhúmis (12) ‘earth', prá-matis (11) 'providence' 8. T This ending is probably due to the 5 Except the irregular m. sákhã and the aualogy of the words of relationship, pitúr f. jánī (jánis in AV. xx. 482 is an emendation). etc.; cp. KZ. 25, 289 and 242 f. 6 There is also the transition form from the radical declension véşa-fri-s beautifully adorned' (TS.). 2 The VS., however, has pátye viśvasya bhumanas 'lord of the whole world'. 3 Cp. BB. 25,242; OLDENBERG, ZDMG. 54, 49-78. 4 Cp. REICHELT, BB. 25, 234-238, and J. SCHMIDT, KZ. 27, 382. 7 Cp. REICHELT, BB. 25, 250. 8 Also the transition forms from the i declension aranyanis, óşadhis, naptis (AV.), rắtris (AV., VS. xxxvII. 21).